Chemical and allelopathic analyses of essential oils of Prangos pabularia Lindl. from Iran.

Prangos pabularia Lindl. (Apiaceae) is a widespread perennial herb distributed from Russia to Iran, Turkey, India, Central Asia and Caucasian. It has been used in folk medicine from ancient times as a diuretic agent and a treatment for leukoplakia, digestive disorders, healing scars and stopping bleeding. In the present study, the composition of the essential oils isolated from leaves, fruits and umbels of this plant was analyzed using GC-MS. The results showed that the leaves' oil was dominated by sesquiterpene derivatives with spathulenol (16.09%) and α-bisabolol (14.30%) as major components. The fruits and umbels oil were characterized by monoterpenes comprised of α-pinene (33.87, 21.46%) as the main compound. The essential oil of the plant leaves exhibited high allelopathic activity.